Work starting on SoDo gastropub and hotel

Sticky Rice is opening a Laotian restaurant in Mills 50 and Noodles and Rice is expanding to Avalon Park.

Sticky Rice is opening a Laotian restaurant in Mills 50 and Noodles and Rice is expanding to Avalon Park.

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A new bakery with Puerto Rican influences called De Azuca has opened in Oviedo, Garp and Fuss debut in Winter Park, Rascal Flatts come to town to serve up food and more on the Central Florida Food Minute with Kyle Arnold and Lauren Delgado.

A new bakery with Puerto Rican influences called De Azuca has opened in Oviedo, Garp and Fuss debut in Winter Park, Rascal Flatts come to town to serve up food and more on the Central Florida Food Minute with Kyle Arnold and Lauren Delgado.

Developers plan to start construction next week on the Delaney Tavern restaurant and the 54-room boutique Delaney Hotel.

DPHG LLC president Greg Allowe said converting the three-story building at the corner of S. Orange Ave. and Copeland Drive as part of a $12 million project.

"We're looking at an American-style gastropub with craft beers on tap and a big bar," Allowe said. "It's a pretty major overhaul to the inside and outside of the building, and it should do some great things for the neighborhood."

He described the feel of the upcoming restaurant as "upscale comfortable" similar to eateries on Winter Park's Park Avenue.

Allowe's group is also overhauling the adjoining courtyard to include patio seating for the restaurant.

The Delaney Tavern should open in late spring 2017 along with The Delaney Hotel, he said.

Orlando orthopedic surgeon Tom Winters is a partner in the project.

Delaney Tavern is projected to take 6,000 of 10,000 square feet on the bottom story of the building, with the remainder of the ground level going to the hotel lobby.

The restaurant and hotel is intended to draw from the hundreds of doctors, patients and family that visit Orlando Health across the street daily, Allowe said.

Parts of the six-story office building next door, which houses Winters' offices, could house a second phase of hotel rooms in the future, Allowe said.

Chocolate shop

The Smith & Adams Confections chocolate and sweets shop closed this week after nearly a year east of downtown.

Former Disney World chocolatier Kelly Smith opened the shop a year ago with partner Kim Adams, making the jewel-like sweets along with gourmet popcorn and gelato.

A closed sign was placed on the door of Smith & Adams at the Colonial Plaza shopping center.

There was also a post on Smith & Adams' Facebook page announcing the closure.